Can't recover PS edits from LR4

[Roscoe17]

OK, so I do an "edit in" CS5 and do some serious healing and cloning, convert to smart filters and then apply a couple of Nik filters. I save and quit and the edited tif file appears in LR4. Fine. I then want to do some more editing, so I select "edit in" CS5 and regardless of the option I select ("Edit a copy with with Lightroom adjustments", "Edit a copy", or "Edit Original"), I see a background layer only and none of the smart filter layers I used to get?

Is this a bug, or did they change something that I'm not seeing?

[RikkFlohr]

If you change your Edit In parameters to use a PSD instead of a Tiff,(Preferences>External Editors) does it work?

[Roscoe17]

In LR3 either would work, but it was widely recommended to use tiff files instead of psd, but I don't recall why (even Adobe techs said so, but I can't recall where).

Note when I open it directly in CS5, it opens fine.

More experimenting, but it appears that the edited file is opened from within LR4 but flattened.

[Roscoe17]

Noticed something else that's odd. I edited a version and saved it, then made a virtual copy and ran a Nik B&W filter on the virtual copy. Both the original and the virtual are now B&W.

This is truly weird.

[Victoria Bampton]

That sounds right Roscoe, because the Nik B&W filter will have changed the original data to B&W - so the virtual copy will also be looking at that B&W data.

[Roscoe17]

I don't understand...I edited the virtual copy from a LR plugin...why would that change the original? Isn't that the point of virtual copies...multiple different edits of the same source image?

[Victoria Bampton]

Take me through your exact steps? Perhaps I'm misunderstanding what you're doing. Remember that virtual copies are only virtual while they're in LR - once you got out to a third-party editor, you're affecting files on disc.

[Roscoe17]

Develop in LR4 until happy. "Edit in CS5" to do some object removal. Then Smart filter with a couple of Nik PS plugins (Sharpener and Silver Effects Pro). This generates something akin to layers. Save. Now I have an original and an edited tiff. Open tiff in CS5 directly and I get the smart filter layers back. Quit without saving. However, if I "Edit in CS5" | "edit original" I get the previously edited file BUT it shows as a single flattened Background layer.

So, figuring something was goofy with the "Edit in ..." option I try something else. I reedit the file in PS to reproduce what I had before (because the previous edit was dorked) without the smart filters, figuring I'll use the Nik LR plugins instead (With LR3 I tried to use the PS versions because I could always go back and tweak them later [until now] whereas the LR plugins bake the effects in). But so I don't trash the original tiff again, I create a virtual copy if the tiff and then run the Nik SEP filter on that one. When I'm done, both the tiff and the virtual copy are now B&W.

Shouldn't the virtual copy be the only one affected by the LR plugin (i.e. not the original tiff)?

[Victoria Bampton]

Ah, ok. No, everything sounds quite normal.

When you open the TIFF in CS5 directly, it opens the original file. If you Edit in Photoshop (with Lr settings) it has to flatten the file as it doesn't understand layers.

When you create a virtual copy, it's virtual - it looks like a separate file in LR and it can have separate settings in LR, but if you open the original TIFF into another program, you're looking at the original file that applies to both master and VC.

[Roscoe17]

First, I'm selecting "edit original" after I created the layers so LR should stay out of the way. At least LR3 did.

Second, once I create the virtual copy from the CS5-created tiff I'm no longer editing the original...I'm editing the VC in a LR Nik plugin (Silver Effects Pro). After I save and exit the plugin only the VC should change to B&W...but the untouched tiff is also converted to B&W. That can't be proper behavior...

edit: So I played with this some more. Seems my options when editing a virtual copy in a plugin are the same as any non-raw file: "Edit a copy with lightroom adjustments", "Edit a copy", or "Edit original". Seems the first two always creates a hard disk copy (not a VC) and the third does what you said...edits the VC but also the underlying "real" file.

So, I've learned two things. Virtual copies appear to be a waste of time if you're going to use a plug-in because they need a hardcopy to work on, and two, using the "edit original" option on a layered tiff file is broken.

[Victoria Bampton]

Yes, your 2nd and 3rd paragraph sound quite right Roscoe. Sorry it's not what you wanted to hear!

[Roscoe17]

Can anyone confirm my last point? That "edit in Photodshop" then choosing "edit original" does not edit the original but instead flattens it instead? Or is it just me?

[Victoria Bampton]

Edit Original in Photoshop should open the original complete WITH its layers (because it just passes the original file path to PS to open). Edit Original to another plug-in would likely result in a flattened file.

[Roscoe17]

That's my point. "Edit in Photoshop | edit original" is NOT sending the original but is in fact flattening it. Well, it is for me.

[Kiwigeoff]

Working ok here with PSCS6 so tell us which version of PSCS5 do you have? Is it the latest?? Do you have the latest ACR6.7 plug in for CS5? I'm just looking for oddities her.

[Victoria Bampton]

I've just tried it here with CS6 and also with CS5/6.7 and it's ok here too. If you right-click > Show in Finder and then open directly into PS, can you confirmed it's a layered file?

[Roscoe17]

Oddly enough it worked properly today. No clue why. Will have to see if/when it happens again.

Thanks